‘Tibet Day Celebrated in Mumbai’
by Staff Reporter
(Bombay Times. July 9, 2000)

'I saw it there
I crossed over
There wasn't anything
on the other side of the bridge
I thought there was something
on the other side of the bridge'

'Illusion' is a poem from a poetry book, Crossing The Border written by Tenzin Tsundue, a second generation Tibetan in the city. Tibet Day was celebrated by Friends of Tibet (INDIA) on Saturday, July 8, at the Coomaraswamy Hall, in the city. It also celebrated the birthday of HH the XIV Dalai Lama.

Tenzin echoes the views of many Tibetans who want to return to their homeland some day, and fell more to practice their culture. Paljor, another Tibetan who walked from Tibet to India, with his brother, 1959 feels, 'advertising, posters, films and events like these help educate the general public. They also create more awareness about the atrocities done to the land of Tibet, its culture and its people for so many years.'

Friends of Tibet (INDIA) is a-year-old organisation that has 800 members in Mumbai. Sethu Das, the president of the organisation says, 'We aim to create as much as awareness as we can about the plight of the people of Tibet. We also plan to take this festival to Cochin in the first week September. Festival of Tibet 2000 will be held in Madras in order to spread the message among Indians. We also have a website promoting this cause.'

The celebrations took off with a photography exhibition called Living Buddha, Suresh Natarajan. This soulful exhibition captured the Dalai Lama in his pure childlike spirit.

Kundun, an Oscar-nominated film for the best musical score, directed by Martin Scorsese, was also screened. Escape From Tibet is a touching documentary, directed by Nick Grey, about the resilience of two brothers travelling with a group of young Tibetans along the treacherous terrains of the Himalayan range, to fulfill their dream of meeting the Dalai Lama. The Saltmen Of Tibet written and directed by Ulrike Koch, is a tale of four men, in Northern Tibet leading a yak caravan for months to bring home salt, a very important source of survival.